Sulista Rare Earth District – Leading scale, high-grade and strategic location
- District Scale: New drill results confirm an extensive high-grade rare-earth system at shallow depths – with +7 km of cumulative mineralised strike over seven exploration corridors within the Sulista Rare Earth District in Bahia, Brazil
- Exploration Target: Sulista covers a vast ‘10 km by 2 km’ exploration target area returning shallow, high- grade rare earth mineralisation results across regolith, bedrock and outcrop vectors. Exploration Target has now been estimated across the seven exploration corridors at Sulista
- Infrastructure advantage: The district is in a strategic location, with state highway BR-330 traversing and connecting Sulista with the Camaçari Petrochemical Complex, Bahia; 138 kV power just ~4 km, and skilled workforce and services ~12 km
Sulista East – Outstanding rare earth assays across regolith, bedrock, and new outcrop boulders
- Large-scale, shallow, high-grade rare earth system identified with true thicknesses up to 30 m over 500 m of strike, still open along trend and at depth
- New drill highlights include grades up to 9.6% TREO, with 15,695ppm NdPr, within 16.6 m at 3.9% TREO from surface (STU1482, open at depth), and large intercepts 33 m at 3.8% TREO from 7 m (JITDD0036)
- Widespread mineralised outcrops with grades of up to 10.5% TREO extend Sulista East by +5 km to the south; latest drilling defines a continuous, tabular bedrock rare earth deposit with grades over 3% TREO
- New discovery just ~500 m north of Sulista East: ‘Monte Alto-style’ ultra-high-grade outcrop boulders at 32.1% TREO, provide classic pathfinders to high-grade bedrock mineralisation
Figure 1: Sulista Project: Drill tested deposits and priority drill targets1
Sulista West – Outcrop Ridge drill program targeting high-grade extensions
- New 5,000 m diamond drill program is now underway at Sulista West, targeting a high-grade REE–Nb–Sc– Ta–U system beneath an intense surface geophysical anomaly
- Outcrop Ridge target is anchored by outcrop grades up to 20.6% TREO (R1255) and earlier drilling up to 22.4% TREO, pointing to a second high-grade centre advancing in parallel with Sulista East
- Follow-up auger results with grades up to 15.6% TREO with 34,467ppm NdPr and 1,767ppm DyTb within Sulista West Deposit cover interval of 6 m at 9.9% TREO from 14 m (STU1813)
Sulista District Exploration Target
Exploration Target estimate of 12–18 Mt, with grades of 4–6% TREO, across seven exploration corridors across the Sulista District.
- Observed thickness & grade distribution: At Sulista East ~70% of drill holes intersect mineralisation, with significant intercepts showing cumulative widths of 15–20 m and a length-weighted interquartile range of 3–5% TREO
- District-scale continuity from multiple pathfinders: >1% TREO auger trends, ground/airborne radiometric anomalies, broad gamma anomalies correlated with high-grade secondary monazite, and ultra-high grade outcrops/boulders define a drill-ready strike over ~6 km
- Geological process: Coexistence of a rich, coherent and consistent tabular bedrock REE melt (~3.1% TREO), thick high-grade regolith above, and proximal Monte Alto-style boulders indicates a highly prospective magmatic and regolith system that repeats along strike
The potential quantity and grade of the Exploration Target is conceptual in nature. There has been insufficient exploration to estimate a Mineral Resource, and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the estimation of a Mineral Resource.
Sulista Drilling Status
- Sulista East: 44 core holes completed (4,737 m); 13 holes assayed and reported herein (1,188 m); 31 holes pending (3,549 m)
- Sulista West: 14 diamond holes previously completed (1,885 m), with assays previously reported for 11 holes (1,463 m) Including up to 22.4% TREO. New 5,000 m drilling program underway at Outcrop Ridge
- Sulista District: 61 new auger holes completed (1,040 m)
Next Steps
- Drilling: Step-out program to extend the Sulista East trend along the >1% TREO corridor; systematic drilling over the Monte Alto-style boulder field; advance Outcrop Ridge and priority targets
- Geophysics: Execute high-resolution helicopter magnetic & radiometric survey
BRE’s Managing Director & CEO, Bernardo da Veiga:
“Our successful exploration pathfinder model continues to deliver at our Sulista Rare Earth District – with the latest results confirming expansive, high-grade rare earth mineralisation with a clear path to scale.
These exceptional results also reinforce our conviction in the Rocha da Rocha Rare Earth Province. We now see the potential for this vast province to hold multi-district high-grade rare earth systems – and we’re at the beginning of systematically unlocking this potential.”
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